Marshals: U.s. Enforcers For 200-plus Years

MIAMI — They are the boogeymen in the EliM-an GonzM-alez saga. They are U.S. marshals, whose arrival to take the boy away could be the imminent conclusion to this protracted saga.

The country's oldest law enforcement organization, the U.S. Marshals Service, has for more than 200 years been called upon to enforce the law of the land.

And its duties may soon come to include carrying out an order from an attorney general to remove a 6-year-old boy from the care of relatives who won't obey a federal request to give him up.

If called to action by Janet Reno or a federal judge, their mission to remove EliM-an from Little Havana will be handled with sensitivity, a spokesman for the local marshals said. And if immigration officers are asked to pick up EliM-an, the marshals will offer backup.

"They would be the lead agency, and we would help them," said spokesman John Amat. "We are not going in there in dark jackets and carrying guns."

But U.S. marshals have been known to play rough. Three-hundred deputies have died in the line of duty, leaving the highest casualty toll of any federal agency.

Among the well-known law officers tied to the marshals' service were Wyatt Earp, an assistant deputy in Tombstone, Ariz., and Wild Bill Hickock, a full deputy.

Because their duties involve protecting the hard-to-protect, the marshals are trained in the art of transporting criminal celebrities like Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega, who was guarded by marshals during his Miami trial.

In their dark windbreakers embossed with the U.S. Marshals logo, they can often be seen leading notorious criminals in and out of courthouses. For the most sensitive missions, they have their own SWAT team, called SOG, for Special Operations Group.

Created in 1789 through a judicial act, the U.S. Marshals Service soon took hold as the law of the land. Today, out of thousands of deputies throughout the country, about 80 are based in Miami.

U.S. marshals have squelched many an act of civil disobedience.

During the Whiskey Rebellion of the late 1790s, deputy marshals were sent in to deal with citizens who refused to pay income tax on their profits. One lost his life in an ensuing battle.

During the Moonshine Wars in the South, deputy marshals were sent to destroy makeshift distilleries, sparking the wrath of moonshiners.

Deputies have also gone up against American Indians in the Dakotas.

The bloodiest standoff in the agency's history occurred in South Dakota in 1834, when a posse chased a murder suspect, an Indian named Zeke Proctor. Eight deputy marshals died trying to capture him.

In modern times, one of the most famous standoffs was between marshals and Indians in 1973 at a place called Wounded Knee, S.D. Indians objecting to federal intrusion held out for 71 days before giving up.

Another anti-government standoff occurred in 1983 in Medina, N.D., with a man named Gordon Kahl, who refused to pay his income tax and then violated his parole.

A deputy U.S. marshal and another officer who cornered Kahl and his son were ambushed and slain as they sat in their cars.

The most notorious incident involving marshals was in 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where Marshal William Degan was killed, as were the 14-year-old son and wife of anti-government activist Randy Weaver.

The incident, which also involved the FBI under the direction of Reno, is notorious in the annals of how federal agencies handle private citizens. The accidental shooting of Weaver's wife by FBI agents as she stood in her front door was criticized as an unnecessary loss of life.

Among the marshals' other duties: transporting federal prisoners, a program called Con-Air; protecting judges and federal courthouses; hunting down fugitives; running the country's 7,000-person Witness Protection Program; and confiscating for resale $1.4 billion a year in ill-gotten property.

Luisa Yanez can be reached at lyanez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7920.